Reproducing musical instrument



Sept. 30, 1930. H. P. BALL REPRODUGING IUSICAL INSTRUIENT Original FiledFab. 5, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 30, 1930. H. P. BALL REPRODUCINGIUSICAL INSTRUIENT Original Filed Feb. 5. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2llllllllllll]! Patented Sept. 30, 1930 HENRY PRICE BALL, F BROOKLYN, NEWYORK BEPRODUCING MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Original application filed February5,1924, Serial No. 690,756. Divided and this application filed October9, 1926. Serial No. 140,619.

This invention relates to means for reproducing music as originallyplayed by the artist on the piano.

The objects of my invention are as follows:

1. To provide a reproducing piano that will respond to my specialrecords and give an infinite variety to the changes of intensity of thetones produced instead of a lim- 1 ited number of changes thereof as atpresent in existing instruments. I r

2. To provide a reproducing piano to operate with a single pressure inthe wind chest, and that a comparatively high pressure,

thereby simplifying the pumping mecha nism and overcoming the presenttroubles when playing soft passages, more especially found in oldinstruments and in both new and old instruments in damp weather.

Also my invention has other objects either to be enumerated hereinafteror which will be apparent to those skilled in the art from anunderstanding of the following specification in connection with thedrawings. Thiscase is a division based on my original United Statespatent application filed F ebruary 5, 1924, which resulted in Patent No.1,716,811, June 11, 1929.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a. new

so partly in section of an upright reproducing piano embodying myinvention, in which I have also included the recording attachmentshowing how the same is applied to an up right piano as distinguishedfrom a grand piano; Fig. 2 is a detail in section of a pneumatic valveand wind chests; Fig. 3 is a. detail; and Fig. 4 is a view of theperforatec record; 1 a 3 1% Referring to Fig. 1, the casing forming thefront 159 of the piano is provided with a music roll box 157 havingmounted therein the tracker board 40 with a single row of tracker ducts41. Suitable bearings not shown are provided to support and drive themusic roll spool 241, and take up spool 156. As the music sheet 22passes over the tracker board, the perforations therein permit air toenter the tracker ducts 41. This air is conducted through tubes 42 tothe valve boxes 43. The. valve box 43 comprises the wind chests 44 and45 which run the entire length of the piano action, the air of which ispartly exhausted. In my preferred form I employ a single pressure at alltimes in the wind chests, which will be designated as high pressure, todistinguish it from other systems on the market which use a variablepressure ranging from a high pressure to a low pressure. I may operatewind chests 44 and 45 at different pressures in order to adapt the valvebox 43 to respond to music rolls other than those made by my system. Forexample, I might have a permanently maintained high pressure in the windchest 44, and a. variable pressure in wind chest 45.- The air pressurein the wind chest 45 being raised and lowered by any of the well knownmeans now employed in player pianos on the market, to increase or low rthe pressure in the wind chest 45 in accordance with the intensities ofthe tones produced. A variable pressure in the wind chest isalmostuniversally used today as a means of changing the force of attackof the pneumatic action. As

distinguished from this, my system employs but a single pressure in thewind chests. and the degree of attack accomplished by my method ofoperation which will now be de scribed.

The pneumatic action is divided into three sections as shown in Fig. 1;each section is provided with a series of striker pneumatics I 46 and isadapted to raise the wippcn standard 3 corresponding to the string to bestruck. The striker pneumatic 46 (one for each tone) is provided with alinger 47, secured thereto, and. which engages with the underside of alug 48 secured to the wippcn standard 3 in such a. way that any strikerpneumatic 46 can operate without interference with any other. Eachstriker pneumatic 46 is in communication with an upwardly extending ductto a valve comprisin a hollow cylindrical member or sleeve 49 in which aplug 50 is vertically movable. The plug 50 is provided centrally withpin 51 findinga bearing in a spider 52 at the lower end of the valve.The plug 50 is provided on its upper end with a pin 51 passing through ahole in the upper part of the valve box to the outside and is providedwith two heads 52 and 53 whereby it can be moved vertically so that theplug can be caused to enter to a greater or less extent the hollowcylinder 49. On the top of the valve box 48 I provide a controlpneumatic 54 somewhat similar in its construction to the strikerpneumatic 46 but smaller in size. This control pneumatic has attached toit the a m 55 which engages with the heads 52 and 53 of the pin 51. Aspring 56 tends at all times to hold the valve plug 50 in its uppermostposition.

Mounted in the valve box 48 are two valves of the usual inside type 57and 58. These valves are provided with pins 59 and 60 respectively, thelower ends of which are headed and bear against flexible discs 61 and62, respectively. The pins 59 and 60 are provided with spider bearings,not shown, in which they are free to move vertically, and which maintainthe valves 57 an l 58 respectively, in their central relation as regardsthe valve seats. The valve 57 controls the passage 63 which communicatesto the wind chest 44 through port 165 and the outside air through port64. The valve 58 controls the communi cation of passage 65 with theoutside air through port 66 and to the wind chest 45 through port 67. hepassage 65 is in communication with the striker pneumatic 46 throughvalve plug 50. Directly below the valve 57 I provide two discs 68 and69. These discs are secured to the valve box at their periphery,similarly to the discs 61 and 62, so that they are free to move at thecenter. The space 170 between these discs is in direct communicationwith the passage 63. The surface under each of the discs 68 and 69 ispreferably curved as shown in Fig. 2. The passage 63 is in connectionwith the control d pneumatic 54, through port 70, controlled by thevalve 71. chamber 72, the port 78 controlled by a flap valve 74 whichacts as a check preventing the flow of air from leaving the controlpneumatic 54 excepting through the bleed hole 75 in a plate secured tothe upper part of the valve 74. This'valve 74 is held in place at oneside as shown so that it is free i to lift off its seat, but not,however, with enough freedom to become displaced. The valve 71 isprovided with a headed pin 76 acted upon by the disc 77. The undersideof the valve box 48 is provided with a valve 78 which controls the airto a passage 79 running from the outside of the box to the underside ofdisc 68. The valve 78 is provided with a resilient arm 80 secured to theunderside of the valve box 43 at one end by screws 81. The free end 82is pressed down by the striker pneumatic 46 when in its extreme lowposition, as shown in Fig. 2. The passage 79 is closed upon the strikerpneumatic passing through its initial movement. The valve box 43 isprovided with a duct 83 to which the tube 42 (Fig. 2) communicates tothe tracker ducts 41.. This passage 83 connects to the underside of thedisc 69 and also communicates through a passage 84 to the space underthe disc 61. In this passage 84 I provide a check valve 85 which permitsair to pass upwardly but not downwardly. I provide the passage 86running from the underside of disc 69 to the space under the disc 62,likewise the passage 87 running from the space under the disc 61 to theunderside of the disc 68 The space under the discs 61 and 62 isconnected to wind chests 44 and 45 through bleedholes 88 and 89respectively.

" The space under the disc 77 is connected by passage 90 to passage 65.The operation of this portion of my device will now be described. As themusic sheet 22 passes over the face of the tracker board 4O, theperforations in the music sheet open the ends of the tracker board ducts41 to the outside air. If a perforation such as 34 (Fig. 4) is precededby a small hole 33 representing a soft tone, then there are twosuccessive impulses of air passing into the tracker duct and through thetubularconnection 42 into the valve box. WVhereas, if the tones are tospeak very loud, there is but a single impulse of air permitted to enterthe tracker duct through a perforation in the music sheet 22, such asthe perforation 115, which is not preceded by a small hole. The degreeof loudness or softness of each tone is controlled by the distancebetween the note perforation and the small hole, as fully explained inmy .co-pending case Serial No. 140,620, filed Oct. 9, 1926. lt I hasbeen seen that the valve box comprises two valves 57 and 58 whichcontrol the pressure of'air in the passages 63 and 65 respectively.Normally, these two valves are in their lower position, and passages 63and 65 are connected to the outside air and, there fore, are atatmospheric pressure. Normally, the ducts 86 and 84, as well as theducts 83 and 87 and their connection 42 to the tracker board 40, haveall been partly exhausted through the bleedholes 88 and 89 to the presure of the wind chests 44 and'45. The flexible disc 68 is, therefore,under these conditions held in its upper position, as shown in Fig. 2,due tohaving atmospheric pressure on the underside and pressurecorresponding to that of the wind chest on the upper" side. Likewise,the flexible disc 69 is held in its lower position by reason of havingatmos pheric pressure in space 70 above, and the lower pressurecorresponding to that in the wind chests 44 and 45 beneath it. In thesenormal positions, the space under the flexible disc 61 isshut off fromthe outside air through duct 79 and the disc 69 in the normal posi tionprevents air fromthe tracker board passing directly through duct 86 tothe space under the disc 62. Running from the space under the disc 77 tothe passage 65, the duct 90 provides air at atmospheric pressure to theunderside of the disc 77, as valve 58 is in its lower position. Theupper side of the disc 77 is exposed to the passage 63, having air alsoat atmospheric pressure, so that the normal position of this disc isdown, as shown in Fig. 2. It will be observed that Fig. 2 shows all ofthe parts in their normally inactive position,that is, in the positionwhen they are not called upon to operate the piano action to producemusical tones.

Let us assume that a small hole 33 passes over the tracker board andopens one. of the ducts 41 therein for a very short period of time,remembering that the small hole 33 is much smaller in diameter than thenote perforation 34, and the amount of air that is permitted to passinto the tracker board and down into the valve box is thereby limited,and, therefore, can only do a certain amount of work. This feature is animportant one as will be brought out. The small hole 33 permits air topass through the I tubular connection 42, down into the duct 83, underthe check valve 85, which it raises and passes into duct 84, and thenunder the flexible disc 61. As the upperside of the disc has been partlyexhausted, the atmospheric pressure underneath raises it, and also valve57, thereby closing the port 64 to the outside air and opening the port165 to the wind chest 44, thereby reducing the pressure in the passages63 and 170 to that of the wind chests. As this takes place, the disc 77raises by reason of the greaterpressure on the underside, throwing thechamber 72 into communication with the passage 63, thereby causing theair in the control pneumatic 54 to be slowly reduced by passing throughthe bleed hole 75, port 70, passage 63, and port 165 into the wind chest44. This reduction of the pressure of air in the control pneumatic 54continues as long as these conditions exist. As the air in the controlpneumatic 54 is drawn through the bleed hole 75, the upper movablemember oi. the pneumatic moves slowly downwardly, carrying with it thevalve plug against the resistance of the spring 56. If, however, at anytime during the downward movement of the upper portion of the controlpneumatic 54, valve 58 is caused to move upwardly, the wind chest 45 isconnected with the passages and 90, the latter communicating with thespace under the pouch 77 the pressure in duct 90 will become that of thewind chest 45, which is the same as the wind chest 44, and the pressureabove and below the disc 77 will thus become the same. The valve 71 willdrop, thereby causing a cessation of the passage of the air through thebleed hole and the movable member of this control pneumatic 54 willbecome stationary, and likewise the movable element 50 of the valvecontrolling the flow, of air to the striker pneumatic 46.

In the normal position of the parts shown in Fig. 2, when the strikerpneumatic 46 is in the position shown, the valve 78 maintains the ducts79 open to atmospheric pressure, so that when valve 57 moves upward, itthrows the partly exhausted air into the space 70, and the disc 68 movesdownwardly; the outside air at atmospheric pressure has direct accessthrough ducts 79 and 87 to the underside of the disc 61, and the valve57 is thereby maintained in its upward position, irrespective of thefact that the small hole 33 may have passed over the tracker duct 41,and thereby closed it. The valve 57 is maintained in this upwardposition until the note perforation 34 or 36 has passed over the trackerduct, as will be explained later. Upon the opening of the tracker duct41 by the note perforation 34, a greater amount of air is permitted toenter the valve box through connection 42 than when the small hole 33opens the tracker duct. This air passes through the duct 83, under theflexible disc 69, causing it to move upwardly, thereby permitting theair at atmospheric pressure to pass through duct 86 to the underside ofvalve controlling disc 62, so that the valve 58 is moved upwardly,disconnecting the outside air from passage 65, throwing it onto thepartly exhausted air of the wind chest 45. The air passes from thestriker pneumatic 46, through the passage 49, passage 65, port 67, intothe wind chest 45, at the same time communication is made between thewind chest 45 and the underside of disc 77, as explained above. As valve58, therefore, moves upwardly, it causes immediate cessation of thedownward movement of valve plug 50, and the striker pneumatic 46 iscaused to move the finger 47 upwardly, bringing it against the lug 48 onthe wippen upright, thereby throwing the piano action into action andcausing the note to be struck. The degree of intensity with which thenote is struck depends upon the position of the valve parts 49 and 50.If the moving member 50 of the valve is in the position shown in. Fig.3, it offers slight resistance to the passage of air from the strikerpneumatic to the wind chest 45, and in this position the note is struckloud on the piano. As the valve plug 50 moves downwardly into variouspositions in the sleeve 49, it offers greater resistance to this flow ofair; as a result of this, the striker pneumatic 46'actuates the pianoaction with decreasing energy until the position is reached when thevalve plug 50 is in its lowest position in the sleeve 49, at which timethe softest tone is struck on the piano. It is readily seen that aninfinite variety of changes in theintensity of tone are produced by thismethod. In Fig. 2 I show taper of the part 50.

the valve parts as slightly conical. The movable member 50 of the valveis shown as a truncated cone, while the opening in the sleeve 49 isshown as conforming to the I wish it distinctly understood that I do notlimit myself to the form of these parts shown, as I may utilize variousforms to produce different effects. I find from experiment that thesuccessful operation of these valve parts depends largely onthe lengthof travel of the valve plug 50 in the sleeve 49. I, therefore, makethese parts as long as possible in a longitudinal direction. The initialmovement upwardly of the striker pneumatic 46 permits the valve 78 toclose the duct 7 9 to the outside air, so that the upper position of thevalve 57 at this time depends solely upon the air entering the ducts 83and 84, through the note perforation in the music sheet. As both thevalves 57 and 58 are now directly controlled by the note perforation, assoon as this perforation passes over the trackerduct 41, these twovalves 57 and 58 drop, thereby causing the pneumatic 46 to sume itsoriginal position, as shown in Fig. 2, and the control pneumatic 54raises quickly to its upward position, as shown in Fig. 2, by reason ofthe spring 56 carrying with it the movable valve member 50. The flexibleflap valve 74 raises off its seat at this time, permitting the free flowof air into the control pneumatic through port 64, passage 63, port 70,chamber 72, port 73. The bleedholes 88 and 8E) operate in the usualmanner, to equalize the pressure above and below the disc 61 and 62 andas this takes place the discs 68 and 69 are seated by reason of thegreater pressureon the outside, and the pressure under the disc, causedby the evacuation of the ducts 87 and 86 communicating with theunderside of discs 61 and 62 respectively and whicl are evacuated asdescribed. The necessity for the use of the check valve 85 which permitsthe flow of air in an upward direction only is on account of the factthat if this check valve were not employed, the air at atmosphericpressure entering passage 79 and communicating to the underside of disc61 upon the opening of the tracker duct by the small hole 33, would finda direct path through ducts 84, 83, and 86, thereby operate the disc 62and raise the valve 58, causing the tone to respond to the smallperforation 33, instead of to the large perforation 34, as intended. Anexplanation of this is thatas soon as the air pressure passes throughduct 83 and under the flexible disc 69 and over the flexible disc 68,there being at this time less pressure in passage 70, both the disc 68and the disc 69 would be moved off their seats and throw the ducts-79,87, 84, 83 and 86 all into direct communicationwith each other, therebydefeating the objects of the invention. The valve 58 must not operateuntil the note perforation 34 opens the tracker duct. In other words,the valve 57 operates in response to the opening of the tracker duct bythe small hole 33, and the valve 58 responds to the opening of thetracker duct by the note perforation 34, and there must be a timeinterval between the operation of these two valves, excepting in loudnotes, equal to the time interval between the opening of the. trackerduct 41 and the small perforation 33 and the large perforation 34. Inthe case of a loud note 115, for example, all of the parts describedabove operate simultaneously,that is, there is no time lag between theoperation of valves 57 and 58, and the control pneumatic 54, therefore,in this case does not move downwardly, and a free passage is maintainedbetween the striker pneumatic 46 and the wind chest 45, so that themaximum intensity of tone is produced.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that I have devised anextremely sensitive and accurate method of recording the notes selectedby the performer as to their tempo, duration, phrasing and individualintensities; in fact, my record is a complete one in every detail of theperformance as played. Further, that this record can be used immediatelyafter being produced, to reproduce the musical composition as played bythe performer.

In order to get greater precision in the time ofoperation of the controlpneumatic 54 in its adjusting the throttling valve plug 50 de-. scribedin connection with the form shown in Fig. 2, I would refer to Fig. 3. Inthis construction I provide a mechanically driven timing shaft 141,provided with ratcl wheels 155 or their equivalent, adapted to beengaged by pawls 142, there being one pawl and one wheel for eachstriker pneumatic.

The pawl 142 is pivoted to the end of the arm 55, secured to the controlpenumatic 54, and is normally held in relation thereto, by a stop 143and a spring 151 as shown. The pawl is provided with a pin 150 whichengages with the cannned endof a longitudinally movable vertical rod 144having bearings 147 and 148- secured to the end of the valve box 143.The lower end of the rod 144 is provided with a collar 146, againstwhich bears a spiral spring 145 tending to hold the rod in its lowerposition. A similar collar 152 locates the lower position of the rod144.

When in its lower position the end of the rod 144 passes to one side ofthe striker penumatic 46, and is adapted to engage the projection 153forming partof the movable member of the striker pneumatic 46. The shaft141 may be geared directly to the driving mechanism in any well knownmanner, not shown, causing the paper 22 to travel over the tracker board40, and is so tnned that it moves at about degrees, during the time thatit takes the paper 22 to travel the maximum distance between the smallperforations 33 and the large perforations 34 in the music sheet. Thelower end of the pawl 142 is normally out of engagement with, but closeto the teeth on the ratchet wheel 140.

The operation of this feature of my device will now be readilyunderstood. As soon as the control. pneumatic 54 moves downwardly, thepawl 142 engages one of the teeth of the ratchet Wheel 1555 and as inthis event the bleed hole 7 5 is adjusted so that the control pneumatic54 will move down faster than the Wheel 155 will permit, the downwardmovement of the control penumatic is retarded, and made to conform tothe speed of the wheel 155 and its motion is, therefore, mechanicallytimed to the movement of the music sheet 22, in its travel over thetracker board 40. As the note is struck by the striker pneumatic 46, theprojection 153 comes against the lower end of the rod 144 causing itscammed upper end to engage with the pin 150, thereby throwing the pawl142 out of engagement with the teeth on the wheel 155, therebyovercoming the objection of having the teeth of the wheel 155 bearagainst the pawl 142 when the latter is stationary.

This prevents unnecessary noise and wear on the parts. This method ofmechanically timing the movements of the parts is a refinement which inordinary practice may not always be required. It is shown to discloseone method of timing the movements of parts mechanically, to governaccurately their time of operation.

Having now described my invention so that anyone skilled in the art towhich it pertains can make and use the same, and having shown oneembodiment of the same in accordance with the statutes", what I claimand wish to cover by Letters Patent is the following:

1. In an automatic piano player action, a wind chest, a strikerpneumatic, a controlling valve, a throttling valve between the strikerpneumatic and the controlling valve, and means for automatically settingthe throttling valve before the striker pneumatic 0perates.

2. In'an automatic piano player action, a striker pneumatic, a valvecontrolling the same, a throttling valve bet-ween the striker pneumaticand the controlling valve, and means for automatically setting thethrottling valve before the striker pneumatic operates, and meansadapted to lock the throttling valve in position during the operation ofthe striker pneumatic.

3. In an automatic player piano action, a wind chest, a strikerpneumatic, a valve, a communication between the wind chest and thestriker pneumatic controlled by the said valve, automatic means adaptedto restrain a valve in said passage adapted to throw the strikerpneumatic 111 and out of communication with the wind chest, andadjustable means adapted to be automatically set prior to the action ofthe striker pneumatic and to control the force of said action.

5. In a player piano controlled by a music" sheet, a striker pneumatic,a valve controlling the latter, means graduating the pressure of airsupplied the pneumatic and automatic means adapted to preset thepressure graduating means under the control of the musicroll prior tothe operation of the valve.

6. The herein described method of automatically playing the piano whichconsists in selecting the note to be played, causing a period of time tolapse before playing the note, proportional to the intensity with whichthe note is to be played and then playing the note at the predeterminedintensity.

7. A piano player controlled by a music sheet comprising a strikerpneumatic, a valve controlling the pneumatic, and a separate pressurecontrolling means under the control of the sheet for each valve adaptedto graduate the pressure of air to which the pneumatic responds. I

8. In a player piano, a series of striker pneumatics, aseries of valves,a series of pressure regulating devices, one for eath pneumatic, and anautomatic presetting means for each device adapted to select thepressure of air to which the pneumatic responds.

9. In a player piano, a series of striker pneumat-ics, a series ofvalves, a series of pressure regulating devices, one for each pneumatic,and an automatic presetting means for each device adapted to select thepressure of air to which the pneumatic responds before the pneumatic iscalled upon to act.

10. In a player piano cont-rolled by a music sheet, a series of strikersand a series of valves, a pressure regulator for each striker and an'lechai'iically driven selecting device adapted to set the pressureregulator individually for each striker.

11. A player piano, controlled by music sheet having a note hole and apilot hole for each tone, comprising means for striking a toneresponsive to the note hole and means adapted to vary the intensity ofthe tone ac cording to the various relative positions be tween the notehole and pilot hole.

12. A player piano, controlled by a music sheet in which each tone isrepresented by a pair of holes spaced different distances apart, a tonehole and an intensity hole, comprising a tone producing deviceresponsive to the tone hole, and an intensity modifying deviceresponsive to the intensity hole and adapted to graduate the intensityof the tone in proportion to the graduated distance between the holes ineach pair.

13. The herein described method of automatically selecting and playing aplurality of notes in a chord which consists of selecting each note tobe played, in advance of the time of playing, a period of time proportional to the desired intensity of its tone and then playing all thenotes simultaneously.

1 1-. The herein described method o1 automatically playing musical noteswhich consist in selecting the notes to be played and causing periods oftime to lapse subsequently to the selection of the notes and before theplaying of the notes proportional to the respective intensities of thenotes.

15. In a player piano responsive to a music sheet, a wind chest having asingle fixed pressure, a striker, a valve for the striker and meansunder the control of the music shee adapted to vary the blow of thestriker independent of the amount of air pressure in the wind chest.

16. In a player piano, means for playing a group of notes simultaneouslyin a chord and automatic means adapted to select the individualintensities with which each note is to sound.

17. In a player piano controlled by a music sheet, means for playing agroup 01 notes simultaneously in a chord and automatic means responsiveto the music sheet adapted to select the individual intensities withwhich each note is to sound.

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York this8th day of October, A. D. 1926.

HENRY PRICE BALL.

